This has just put me in a thoroughly foul mood.
It’s going to be Battle of the Mean PeaceBang vs. Sweet People Who Think Things Like This Are Cute.
I wish I had never seen it. I’m not going to provide a link because I don’t want to be an accessory to the purchase of this terrible little crime against good clerical taste.
Cartoon sheep? In garish rainbow hues?
BARF.
This goes in the “Dear God, WHY?” pile with the stoles made of old blue jeans, the ugly home-made crafty Jackson Pollock-ish stoles (“I don’t attend church any more because my pastor’s stoles give me migraines”), and the style of vestment or stole best described as Big Technicolor Floofies.
Do mother a favor and don’t give me any lip about this, will you?
I’ve seen better looking fabric in Joann’s novelty remnants pile!
As my grandmother used to say, “Oh, ish.” [Are you from Minnesota!? – PB]
You know, I can picture a sheep-covered stole that doesn’t look bad. This is not that stole. The fabric is really just the very definition of tacky.
And Jesus said, “Feed my sheep,” and gave Peter another tab of acid.
In fact, my dad grew up in Edina. Grandparents lived there 40+ years. 🙂
[Thank you, thank you. *bowing* – PB]
You need to send that here, which is a Naughty Corner for Vestments:
http://badvestments.blogspot.com/
I saw that on its not-to-be-named site and was really surprised, given how sleek their other products looked. Quite the disconnect.
My grandmother grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, where ‘ish’ was short for ‘ishkabibble.’
Probably means the same thing, though.
Not even for Children’s Chapel.
I’m so glad my rector (for whom I sew vestments and other church stuff) has good taste. His first rule of thumb is “no representational figures.” Now we know why.
It says, “I’m going to be a grown-up minister ANY DAY NOW.”
My stepmom is an RN in a children’s hospital. She has scrubs made from fabric just like that. Fine for a kiddo nurse, NOT fine for a clergy stole!
I was wondering when the outrage over this “stole” would emerge. It doesn’t even make the “cute” category- it is so bad it hurts my eyes!
I saw it and could only think, “Who would wear such a thing?”
It’s sooo bad that the only person I could imagine actually wanting it is Max Bialystock from The Producers–and even then he would want to offend everyone. It is unimaginable in its pure horribleness!
[Larry. “The Producers” is my all-time favorite movie. Which obligates me to ask you to marry me for invoking Max Bialystock. – PB]
Thanks, Larry Bill – For starting this fun dish.
Well so much for YOUR birthday present….!
there really is no excuse – I wondered for a moment about ministry in a children’s hospital, but you’d really want one of those smaller stoles that fold up in a portable communion kit, and if your target kidlet was old enough to take communion or, gulp, actually have something to confess, they’d be old enough to want to barf when they saw the stole.
I know someone who’s practically a saint who wears floral clerical shirts for this duty only, which I think is fine.
I will say, though, when it comes to horrible, dreadful, or just plain ugly stoles- including the denim numbers and anything in hot pink- if it is presented to me as a gift, I will wear it at least once because the person put effort into making it. Then it will go into my drawer. I heard a story of a lovely man who was given a hot pink stole by the teens in church and refused to wear it. The teens were terribly hurt.
To me, honoring the gift-giver’s intention trumps fashion sense, at least, if the item were handmade.
I will see if I can get a picture of a lovely children’s stole I was given- it’s a watercolor patchwork design and the kid’s fingerprints were made into animals. It’s the way to do “kid’s stoles”.
You know that within the next year you’ll receive six of these from loving friends and family who think they’re being funny 🙂
Yikes. Not even if my mother made it for me.
looks like Timothy Leary came back as a stole designer. (have to be my age to get that reference)
Sorry PB, I’m already called for but it would be nice to dance the Guten Tag Hop-Clop at the wedding.
What you would wear to Rainbow Brite’s ordination…
Wow. Is everybody having fun? It is amazing how easy it is to think of insults and to tear down someone else’s work. It is so much fun! … until you are on the receiveing end. I know the seamstress. She is a wonderful human being and this stole is cute. It isn’t my taste either, but I know many who love theirs. So it isn’t your taste? Maybe find a better way to vent any pent up frustrations than collusion and contempt, and heaping mockery on someone else’s offerings, fellow CLERGY members. Where is God in this interchange? Taste is personal, not God ordained.
I wrote one of the above remarks but upon thinking about this, I can truthfully say that I think this stole would be totally appropriate for a youth or childen’s minister. Where I used to attend the priest used many beautiful velvet & brocade ones but I think kids especially would love this. One of the things my daughter loves about her Christian church is their being more willing to update things and not look medieval all the time with traditional everything. (Although this might not be such an issue on a non Episcopalian or low church Episcopalian setting).
kids love beautiful fabric too–by the way. This just stands out too much for liturgy. It isn’t up to “personal taste” to this extent, at least for the principal service of Christian worship on Sunday.
No one is knocking the person who sewed this. For all we know someone requested this hideous fabric specifically and he or she, as a businessperson, is showing their excellent work in the best way they can. Goodness.
RevAlison–the contempt that you accuse others of showing you are self-righteously showing yourself. Just because somebody made this does not mean it cannot be criticized. If you happen to not like the criticism–oh well, you don’t like it.
And let’s not forget that a post on a blog doesn’t give the nuance that a fireside chat would. The break that you think people ought to give the person who made this (who is never talked about as I read this post–the product is) is the same break that you ought to give those who are commenting.
Amy’s comment made my day. This was one of the funniest streaks ever, at least until the posters were chastened. And Susanp — Rainbow brite’s ordination!
I was holding my breath to see if Peacebang’s proposal was accepted. Now I see once again that there is no justice in the world.
RevAlison, taste is not God ordained. I have mine, you have yours, the people who buy this stole have theirs, and we can all criticize each other’s tastes without suggesting that God is on anyone’s side. Hey, Terry Pratchett says that gods have terrible taste. I bet they like this stole.
Desperately wishing for a “like” button, because susanp’s comment about Rainbow Brite’s ordination made me LOL.
I just found the sermon to match this stole.
http://ourhopemcc.com/september162007.html
Even without the stole, and even wholeheartedly agreeing with the sentiment of the sermon, I think that if I heard a minister say the phrase ¨the rainbow colored sheep in each of us,¨ I would dissolve into giggles.
I get why someone would think this stole is a good idea, I really do. You want to say that queer people can be good Christians, good sheep. That’s an important message, really it is. But that’s a message you send by your words and actions, not by wearing a stole, which is a terribly ambiguous gesture. Does the rainbow mean that you are queer, or like Emmaus/Crusillio, or did you just think that this stole is “something the kids will like”, or all three?
However, the least expensive stoles I have seen have, for the most part, been the brightly colored tacky ones, or the Guatemalan ones some people think are exploitative when worn by white pastors.